Happy 1st Birthday to you..
Happy 1st Birthday to you..
Happy 1st Birthday dear… The Healthy Chew
Happy 1st Birthday to you!
A Year In Review For
The Healthy Chew
WOW! I can’t believe it’s only been a year since I started this little blog, creating and sharing my passion for nutrition and whole foods with y’all! Looking back, I am simply amazed at what one year can accomplish and what I only hope to continue accomplishing in the coming years. But I want to be sincerely honest with y’all, honest about the process and everything that comes with it. Day by day it seemed as though I wasn’t doing enough, I wasn’t giving enough of myself. I was constantly comparing myself to others and only saw the trivial impact I was doing, I couldn’t see the bigger picture. I was so focused on the tunnel ahead that I only saw what was directly in front of me.
I wanted to write this post because I really wanted to let y’all in on the journey and what it has done for me and hopefully for you too.
When I started this blog, I wanted the main focus to be about nutrition education. I was so focused on what I wanted to talk about, what I wanted to preach about. I thought I had all the answers and I thought I needed to change everybody’s lives. I would spend hours reading other people’s blogs, analyzing how they made their food pictures look so exquisitely perfect. I spent most of the summer in a dream-like world, thinking my posts had to be spotless and perfect for my non-existent audience. But this is not who I am. This is not who I want The Healthy Chew to be.
Looking back now, I’m glad it didn’t evolve into a preaching site. On the other hand, The Healthy Chew has helped me learn so much about myself and interpersonally, what I still need to work on. When I started this blog, I was fresh out of college and beginning my life as a post graduate. I was so full of life and itching to begin my wanderlust journey to find my niche in the nutrition world. Well, it’s been a year and I have some news..I still haven’t found it. I haven’t found that amazing job I was so stubborn to find. I haven’t settled down yet, heck, my nerves still get hyped every time somebody mentions the words “future plans”.
I haven’t decided who I am going to be, and I’ve come to find out I don’t think it really works that way. We don’t just one day wake up and say “Hey, I think I’ll be a nutrition model today. Tomorrow I might be the queen of yoga. Maybe Thursday I will become a yogi master and then Saturday I will build a career around nutrition. I guess Sunday I will be a registered dietitian but then on Monday I’ll be successful nutrition counselor.”
No, each day we are given is a chance to build yourself and others up. Each day we are given is a chance to reach higher, stronger, further than the previous day. Each day we are given is a chance to make a (tiny) difference in the world. Tiny differences that add up to a world of change. We do not overcome our challenges and fears in one day, but rather over time. It’s the collection of time that molds our character and who we are, a collection of days. So I can’t say I know where I will be in another year, but for now in this year.. I am here. And this is me.
The Healthy Chew is me.
Too often, people get bogged down by what is not going right in their lives. They have tunnel vision, looking from one problem to the next. Never fully satisfied with what they have right now in the present. We are an instantaneous society, always needing something bigger and better to occupy our minds. Never satisfied with where we are.
I have news for you. Simple truth. More often than not, life is not going to go the way we plan it. We can spend all day planning out what we would like to do, but ultimately by the end of the year, not everything will have gone according to your plan. Life has curve balls, speed bumps, and road blocks. But Life also has celebrations, triumphs, and surprises. If we plan it all out, if we live our days according to a plan where is the fun in that?
We may not be where we thought we would be, maybe not even where we ought to be, but thank goodness we are not where we used to be. If you ever get frustrated thinking about where you want to be, remember to look back and recognize the journey for what it is. We all have different journeys, not one person’s is the same, so why would we ever compare our journey with somebody else’s? Look back, notice the miles you have traveled, the speed bumps you have over come, the curve balls you have hit out of the park. Notice the successes in your journey, the triumphs and the celebrations you enjoyed.
I want to end this post by letting y’all in on a secret. Whether you think it or not, everybody has something to be thankful for. Start by thinking of the positives in life before the negatives, re-train your brain to see the sunshine before the storm. Finding something good in each day, finding your silver lining. I am not saying every day will be “lollipops and rainbows” (as my husband puts it) but try to remember, it could always be worse.
And remember, you can always make it better.
PS: The recipe for these delicious birthday bundt cakes is coming out on Friday, stay tuned hungry friends!
-Stephanie
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email me at StephanieRackley@thehealthychew.org